Mass Society in an Age of Progress

1. Mass Society in an Age of Progress 1871 - 1894 FIFI

2. Main Points • Era of significant material prosperity and progress • Second Industrial Revolution reinforces faith in materialism • Mass Society emerges with this broad urban, industrial and economic growth • Era of increased democracy and the triumph of liberalism • New ideas of mass politics, propaganda and mass press

3. Growth of Industrial Prosperity • After 1871, new technology and industrial developments triggered Second Industrial Revolution • First IR focused on textiles, coal, iron and RR • Second focused on steel, chemicals, electricity, and petroleum

4. New Products, New Markets • Substitution of steel for iron (Bessemer Process and Gilchrist Process) • Chemical production: Germany surpasses GB (soap, paper, dyes, film) • Electricity • T. Edison (1847-1931) and Joseph Swan – light bulb • A.G. Bell (1847-1922) – telephone, 1876 • G. Marconi (1874-1937) – radio waves across the Atlantic, 1901 • Transformation of factories to electrical power • Internal combustion engine and petroleum power

5. New Products, New Markets • Automobile and airplane • Daimler (1886) engine • H. Ford (1863-1947) – mass production • Zeppelin airship, 1900 • Wright brothers, 1903

6. Evolution of the “Zeppelin” …to a reallybigexplodingGermanZeppelin From the very first Zeppelin …to the virile progenitors of heavy metal Zeppelin …to the Viagra-dependent Zeppelin!

7. New Products, New Markets Marconi’s radio (1901); Daimler’s internal combustion engine in the first motorcycle (1885)

8. New Products, New Markets • New markets • Increased wages and elevated standard of living • Competition • Advertisement • Tariffs • Cartels • Precision tools/interchangeable parts and assembly line

9. New Patterns in an Industrial Economy • Depression, 1873-1895 – falling prices, business slump • Economic boom after 1895 • La belle époque • German Industrial Leadership • Germany replaces Britain as the industrial leader of Europe • New areas of manufacturing; emphasis on scientific and technological education

10. New Patterns in an Industrial Economy • Europe’s two economic zones: Industrial and Agricultural • Advance industrial core of Great Britain, Belgium France, the Netherlands, Germany, western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and northern Italy • Little industrial development in southern Italy, most of Austria-Hungary, Spain, Portugal, the Balkan kingdoms, and Russia • Development of world economy caused many agricultural areas to specialize due to an abundance of grain

11. Industrial Regions of Europe by 1914

12. Women and Work • “Right to work” • Ideal of domesticity/cult of domesticity vs. reality of financial need • Sweatshops and “slopwork” and factory restrictions • White-Collar Jobs • Increased white-collar jobs created shortage of male workers opening up opportunities for women • Secretaries, teachers, clerks, telephone operators, nurses • Freedom from domestic patterns • Prostitution • Contagious Diseases Acts of 1870s and 1880s • Government penalizes prostitutes, not Johns • Josephine Butler’s “Shrieking Sisters” • Repeal of the acts in 1886

13. Women and Work Female telephone operators; French prostitutes: “Why didn’t they just wash the muff?”

14. Organizing the Working Class • Growing numbers of workers – they wanted their voices heard and developed labor unions and political parties • Socialist Parties in Germany • German Social Democratic Party (SPD) 1875 – most prominent socialist party – why in Germany? • Liebknecht and Bebel – Marxist rhetoric • Socialist Parties in France • Variety of socialist parties • Jean Juares – rejects Marxism in favor of model from French Revolution • Effects of the growth of socialist parties – Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Russia • Second International (1889) and International Labor Day 5/1

15. Organizing the Working Class • Two divisive issues: Revisionism and Nationalism • Evolutionary Socialism vs. Marxism • Bebel and Marxism • Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932) and Revisionism • Nationalism • “The working man has no country” (?) • Many like Marx favored international approach but nationalism was a powerful force!

16. Organizing the Working Class • Formation of labor unions • Right to strike • Replacement of violent upheaval with collective bargaining • Strong ties to socialist parties – why? • Anarchism • Initially a peaceful movement • Bakunin’s approach – more violence • Use of assassination

17. Contrasting Political Viewpoints Gradual change! Destroy the state! VIOLENT REVOLUTION! And shoot someone! Bebel: “We aim in the domain of politics at republicanism; in the domain of economics at socialism; in the domain of what is today called religion, at atheism.” Bernstein: "The Communist Manifesto was correct…but…we see the privileges of the capitalist bourgeoisie yielding…to democratic organizations…In my judgment…success lies in a steady advance……than in…a catastrophic clash.“ Bakunin: “If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery.”

18. Emergence of Mass Society • Population Growth • 270 mil to 460 mil from 1850-1910! • Decline in the death rate • Medical discoveries and environmental conditions • Improved publication sanitation • Improved nutrition • Increased emigration to urban areas and to US • Opportunity for employment • Need to escape persecution

19. Population Growth in Europe, 1820-1900

20. The Urban Environment • Growth of cities / Urbanization • Urban Reformers and Improved Living Conditions • Edwin Chadwick, Rudolf Virchow • Pointed to relationship between living conditions and disease • Boards of Health established • Buildings begin to be inspected for problems • Public Health Act of 1875 in Britain • Clean water into the city • Expulsion of sewage

21. Transformation of the Urban Environment • Housing Needs • Reformer-philanthropists focused on relationship of living conditions to political and moral health of the nation • Victor A.Huber, German reformer – no more SLUMS! • Octavia Hill – personal investment in housing • Lord Leverhulme – Port Sunlight and his soap factory • Ebenezer Howard – Letchward Garden City • Garden City Movement • Redesigning the cities; British Housing Act of 1890 • Construct new buildings, reconfigure spaces • Cheap modern transportation – urban sprawl, suburbs • Liberal principles of government don’t hold true

22. Transformation of the Urban Environment Slum housing; Lord Levelhulme’s houses for his employees at Port Sunlight Village; the visual concept for the Garden City Movement

23. Social Structure of Mass Society • The Elite • 5 percent of the population that controlled 30 to 40 percent of wealth • Alliance of wealthy business elite and traditional aristocracy • Common bonds • The Middle Classes • Stratification: Upper middle class, middle middle-class, lower middle-class • Professionals • White-collar workers • Middle class values came to dominate society and culture • The Lower classes • 80 percent of the European population • Agriculture • Urban working class stratification: Skilled, semiskilled, unskilled workers

24. Social Structure of Mass Society The elite, the urban poor and the rural poor

25. The Woman Question • There were increased job opportunities for women • However, many women still aspired to the ideal of femininity • Marriage was the only honorable and/or available career • Lord Tennyson’s The Princess: • Man is the hunter; woman is his game:The sleek and shining creatures of the chase,We hunt them for the beauty of their skins;They love us for it, and we ride them down. • Pt. V, l. 147-150. • Man for the field and woman for the hearth:Man for the sword and for the needle she:Man with the head and woman with the heart:Man to command and woman to obey;All else confusion. • Pt. V, l. 427-431.

26. The Family and Family Life • “Cult of Domesticity” glorified • Before increased job opportunities, women had to marry out of financial necessity • Most women chose to marry, however lowering illegitimacy, but so did… • Family Planning • Family size limited (contraception –vulcanized rubber) • Dr. Aletta Jacob – first birth control clinic in Amsterdam 1882 • Those who could afford children used birth control; those who could not often didn’t • Many spoke out against birth control

27. The Middle Class Family • Family was a central institution • Men – income • Women – household, socials – the more idle the better! • Domestic Servants – housework/cooking • 1890 to 1914 higher paying jobs made it possible to live on the husband’s wages • Leisure time due to higher wages and reduced work week • Holiday traditions • Gender-based activities, toys for children

28. The Working Class Family • Wages improved to allow younger children NOT to work, and even more women were staying at home like middle class • Consumer goods – sewing machines, stoves, bicycles – provided goals to work toward • Saturday leisure • Compulsory education removed children from factories and put them in schools

29. Education and Leisure • Schools • Gymnasium (Secondary Schools) • Secondary (University) for wealthy and later, middle class • Needed compulsory education for informed voting public and national pride! • Germany had 1st public education system early 19th century • By 1870s more school requirements • Impact on literacy • Growth of publications

30. Education and Leisure • Second IR decimated village life of past – long holidays didn’t mesh with industrial pace • Shorter work days/weeks = more leisure! • Machines to do housework = more leisure! • Rail travel to resorts and Tourism (Thomas Cook) • Music and dance halls • Organized sports • Amusement Parks

31. Early Days of Sport Rugby in Britain; Football (Soccer) in Genoa

32. Ferris Wheel – Old School

33. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • With the exception of Spain and Italy, parliamentary control of the governments of western Europe were able to push for liberal reforms. • Great Britain and Gladstone’s Reforms • Reform Act of 1884 • Redistribution Act • Salaries to members of the House of Commons

34. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • Irish Question • Act of Union 1801 and the impact of nationalism • Gladstone’s attempt at land reform • Failure of Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893 • Irish Protestants in Ulster (N. Ireland) vs. Catholics

35. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • France in turmoil • Defeat in the Franco-Prussian War led to the downfall of Emperor Louis Napoleon III. • Bismarck required defeated France to choose their new government by UNIVERSAL MALE SUFFRAGE, though the French Republicans had set up a provisional government • Once put to vote, the French public rejected the republican government and elected a majority of monarchists for the new National Assembly!

36. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • France in turmoil • Radical republicans rebel: Paris Commune established • National Assembly brutally puts down the commune after a month of nasty street fighting • Louise Michel and the role of women • Outcome broadened the rift between middle and working class already begun in 1848-9 revolutions

37. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • France in turmoil • Monarchists failure to choose a king • Ineffective leadership opens door for republic to prevail • By 1875, Third Republic born. 1st? 2nd? • Republicans come to dominate Chamber of Deputies • Resistance to the Third Republic and the Boulanger Affair

38. The National State:Western Europe and the Growth of Political Democracy • Spain and Italy • Spain remains conservative and brutally suppresses outbursts of socialists and anarchists • Italy, the Ethiopia humiliation, and the rift between industrialists and working class

39. The National State:Central and Eastern Europe and the Persistence of the Old Order • Germany • Established legislature as well as universal male suffrage, yet still remained an authoritarian and conservative regime • Bicameral legislature: Bundesrat and Reichstag • Role of Chancellor and persistence of Junker-dominated military hierarchy

40. The National State:Central and Eastern Europe and the Persistence of the Old Order • Germany: a power struggle • Bismarck • Kulturkampf and playing to liberals • Bismarck’s conservative backlash in 1878 • Outlawing SDP • Social Welfare Legislation (?) • Failure to curb growth of SDP and desire to use undemocratic, repressive measures to obliterate them • Kaiser Wilhelm II • Desire to rule alone • Role of Kaiser made secure by Bismarck • Dissatisfaction with Bismarck’s failure to win over the workers and stop spread of SDP • Bismarck’s dismissal in 1890

41. The National State:Central and Eastern Europe and the Persistence of the Old Order • Austria • Ausgleich created dual monarchy 1867 with constitution and parliament, but Emperor Francis Joseph undermined its authority • Ethnic minority problem • Edward von Taaffe as PM (1879-1893) • Concessions to minorities ager German-speaking bureaucracy • Francis Joseph used Catholicism to keep people together • Universal male suffrage 1907

42. The National State:Central and Eastern Europe and the Persistence of the Old Order • Hungary • More effective parliament but dominated by Magyar landowners • Forced Magyarization • Ethnic tensions

43. The National State:Central and Eastern Europe and the Persistence of the Old Order • Russia • No concessions or liberal democratic reforms • Assassination of Alexander II made his son Alexander III reactionary • Secret police, power of Zemstovs curtailed • Industrialization would force inevitable change…